Yesterday, to celebrate the end of my atrociously stressful Junior year in High School, I decided to join my brother and a group of two friends in spending the day at Six Flags Great America (Gurnee, IL). We all had lots of fun riding the roller coasters such as Raging Bull and going down the water slides in the Hurricane Harbor water park, but the highlight of the day, at least for me, occurred when we took a break from the excitement at one of the arcades within the Park. I just got a nice paycheck from my job so I was willing to spend quite a bit. We participated in the obligatory DDR and Shoot'em up games, but the prize winning games particularly got my attention. I immediately avoided any of the games involving cranes remembering my past experience with them, but there was one game called "Stacker" that seemed to reward prizes based on skill rather than luck.
Yes, the bright red decor and the ditzy woman voice coming from the machine were good selling points, but the main things that allured me to play were the prizes -- Not some dumb stuffed animals, but iPods, DS lites, PSPs, and other things that appealed to my geeky side. The cost was one dollar to play, so I figured... why not?
If you have never played stacker, here is how it works. The machine has a grid layout with a group of flashing blocks moving back and forth straight across the bottom row. You then press the button to stop the blocks from moving, and then blocks begin moving across in a similar manner in the row above. Basically, you need to align the blocks perfectly on the grid until you reach the top and claim your prize. Of course, the game gets more difficult as it progresses, the three blocks you start off with quickly shorten to one and they also move faster and faster up each row. About three quarters from the top, there is also a "Minor" prize option that you can win if you decide to stop playing, but it is usually a big piece of crap -- usually worth less than twenty cents. If you want to win that shiny iPod, you have to stack all of the blocks. But going from a $0.20 prize to a $300 prize in just four more rows? How hard could it be?
I immediately went to the change machine and got $5 in quarters. I then chucked the quarters into the machine and began playing. It was easy at first, as I managed to stack my blocks perfectly up to the minor prize, and by accident, I ended up not continuing and got a shitty glow in the dark key chain. My friends urged me to continue, so I put another four quarters in and tried again... I made it to the minor prize again but knew better and decided to continue...
Now, at this point, the game became much more difficult, but still easy enough for a person with decent motor skills like myself and made it to the very last row... THIS WAS IT. One more button press would determine if that dollar would get me a shiny new iPod or absolutely nothing. Hesitant, I watched the block skid across the row extremely fast, but I was still confident I could follow it. "ALMOST THERE!" the machine teased. I then slammed the button, and to my awe, I was ONE SPACE AWAY from lining up my blocks.
I was frustrated, but I had three more tries, so I kept on going. My friends were cheering me on, but the results were the same every time... I would reach the VERY last row and always miss it by one space. My brother concluded at this point that the game was rigged, but I didn't care -- I was addicted, so I put in another truckload of quarters...
Hax!
Seriously?
DAMN!
What the asshole?
FUCKBALLS!
As you can see, I was beginning to get really mad. WHY WAS THAT LAST BLOCK ELUDING ME? I was not only missing, but I was only missing that last block, and always missing by one fucking space! What a tease! I really should have given up, but I continued to try --- At this point I already had a large group of people crowding around me who were greatly impressed by my determination. Either that or they were just there to balk at my apparent addiction, frustration, and stupidity.
Twenty dollars later, I finally decided to call it quits. My self-esteem was greatly reduced and I was not in the mood to do anything. I felt like a complete dumbass for spending that much of my hard earned cash on an apparently rigged game. But was it really? This video says otherwise. I really don't know too much about arcades in general and whether machines are rigged, but does anyone else here have interesting things to share about their experiences with games such as "Stacker" in the past? Is that top block programmed to miss until the machine makes enough money? Or am I overestimating my hand to eye coordination?
Yes, the bright red decor and the ditzy woman voice coming from the machine were good selling points, but the main things that allured me to play were the prizes -- Not some dumb stuffed animals, but iPods, DS lites, PSPs, and other things that appealed to my geeky side. The cost was one dollar to play, so I figured... why not?
If you have never played stacker, here is how it works. The machine has a grid layout with a group of flashing blocks moving back and forth straight across the bottom row. You then press the button to stop the blocks from moving, and then blocks begin moving across in a similar manner in the row above. Basically, you need to align the blocks perfectly on the grid until you reach the top and claim your prize. Of course, the game gets more difficult as it progresses, the three blocks you start off with quickly shorten to one and they also move faster and faster up each row. About three quarters from the top, there is also a "Minor" prize option that you can win if you decide to stop playing, but it is usually a big piece of crap -- usually worth less than twenty cents. If you want to win that shiny iPod, you have to stack all of the blocks. But going from a $0.20 prize to a $300 prize in just four more rows? How hard could it be?
I immediately went to the change machine and got $5 in quarters. I then chucked the quarters into the machine and began playing. It was easy at first, as I managed to stack my blocks perfectly up to the minor prize, and by accident, I ended up not continuing and got a shitty glow in the dark key chain. My friends urged me to continue, so I put another four quarters in and tried again... I made it to the minor prize again but knew better and decided to continue...
Now, at this point, the game became much more difficult, but still easy enough for a person with decent motor skills like myself and made it to the very last row... THIS WAS IT. One more button press would determine if that dollar would get me a shiny new iPod or absolutely nothing. Hesitant, I watched the block skid across the row extremely fast, but I was still confident I could follow it. "ALMOST THERE!" the machine teased. I then slammed the button, and to my awe, I was ONE SPACE AWAY from lining up my blocks.
I was frustrated, but I had three more tries, so I kept on going. My friends were cheering me on, but the results were the same every time... I would reach the VERY last row and always miss it by one space. My brother concluded at this point that the game was rigged, but I didn't care -- I was addicted, so I put in another truckload of quarters...
Hax!
Seriously?
DAMN!
What the asshole?
FUCKBALLS!
As you can see, I was beginning to get really mad. WHY WAS THAT LAST BLOCK ELUDING ME? I was not only missing, but I was only missing that last block, and always missing by one fucking space! What a tease! I really should have given up, but I continued to try --- At this point I already had a large group of people crowding around me who were greatly impressed by my determination. Either that or they were just there to balk at my apparent addiction, frustration, and stupidity.
Twenty dollars later, I finally decided to call it quits. My self-esteem was greatly reduced and I was not in the mood to do anything. I felt like a complete dumbass for spending that much of my hard earned cash on an apparently rigged game. But was it really? This video says otherwise. I really don't know too much about arcades in general and whether machines are rigged, but does anyone else here have interesting things to share about their experiences with games such as "Stacker" in the past? Is that top block programmed to miss until the machine makes enough money? Or am I overestimating my hand to eye coordination?
